Wireless networks incorporating various different types of access nodes (including relay access nodes and other small-cell access nodes) are becoming increasingly common. As a consequence, a wireless device attached to an access node may frequently switch to communicating with a different access node, depending on a location, transmit/receive signal strength, or resource requirement of the wireless device. Such switching between access nodes may be referred to as a “handover” to those having ordinary skill in the art. However, although handovers are well known in the art, the current state of the art suffers from limitations in the ability of a wireless device or wireless network to efficiently perform handovers. For example, wireless devices must disconnect from a first (i.e. serving) access node and attach to a second (i.e. target) access node, and the serving and target node must exchange a large volume of data (including with other network elements) to successfully perform a handover. Thus, there is a need in the art for more efficient handovers.